ALM Flight 980 - Flight and Ditching

Flight and Ditching

Flight 980 made a normal departure from Kennedy Airport and had an uneventful flight to the Caribbean. After the flight was given descent clearance to 10,000 feet (3,000 m), regional air traffic control (ATC) advised that weather in St. Maarten was below landing minimums. The captain elected to divert to San Juan; however, shortly after that, the tower at St. Maarten advised them that the weather had improved sufficiently for landing. The flight made an initial approach to St. Maarten, but failed to sight the runway in time to line up for landing, and announced a missed approach.

Flight 980 then made a second landing attempt, but it, too, was unsuccessful because of alignment with the runway. After breaking off that approach, the crew made a third attempt, but the aircraft was too high to land safely. After assessing the weather and fuel situation, the crew elected to divert to St. Thomas, and received a vector and clearance. At this point the crew noticed a possible discrepancy between the fuel gauges and what had been computed as the amount of fuel remaining. The captain advised ATC of his intention to ditch the aircraft, and began a low approach over the water. Flight 980 ditched in the Caribbean Sea at 3:49 PM local time.

Although the pilots flashed the seat belt signs just prior to ditching, there was insufficient understanding in the cabin that the aircraft was about to touch down. Consequently, an unknown number of passengers and crew were either standing up, or had their seat belts unfastened when the aircraft struck the water.

The aircraft remained relatively intact after the water landing, but sank after the accident in about 5,000 feet (1,500 m) of water, and was never recovered. The accident resulted in 23 fatalities and 37 injuries, with three additional uninjured survivors. Both pilots survived. The injured survivors waited for hours in the water to be rescued.

Rescue efforts included units from the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, and a number of survivors were rescued by helicopter.